Gainesville — The University of Florida (UF) Board of Trustees voted unanimously to elect Dr. Santa J. Ono as the university’s next president.
The remaining formality until the official start of the Ono’s erra is ratification by the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System of Florida.
“I am thankful for, and humbled by, the unanimous support of the Board of Trustees,” Ono said. “The energy here at the University of Florida is palpable, and I am eager to join the wonderful students, faculty and staff of the Gator Nation,” “I’m excited by the prospect of being part of such an exceptional institution that is so clear-eyed in its purpose. Let’s go do great things together.”
Ono is the former president of the University of Michigan and the former chair of the University of Michigan Health Board. He has held leadership positions in higher education and public health in both the United States and Canada. His academic work includes research on the immune system and eye diseases.
Ono has been elected to several prestigious professional organizations, including the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Inventors, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Additionally, he has received multiple honorary doctorates and was inducted into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.
Ono’s selection comes less than one year after former president Ben Sasse resigned and his predecessor, Dr. Kent Fuchs, returned to serve as interim president. Sasse was formerly a Republican US Senator from Nebraska, who also had career experience in academia leadership in his background, but his brief tenure at UF started protests from students who disagreed with his conservative record. Sasse was expected to recruit new professors and leaders for the new civics program at the university, but Sasse resigned in July of 2024, citing his wife’s struggle with epilepsy. Ultimately, additional pressures came to light, as an audit found spending categories deemed to be frivolous.
“Santa Ono is precisely the right person to be president of the University of Florida at this moment in its history,” said UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini. “He is a remarkably accomplished scholar and a solidly proven academic leader, and his values align perfectly with ours here in the great state of Florida. Dr. Ono will ensure that merit and scholarship, not ideology, are the gold standards for success, and he will see to it that the University of Florida continues its ascent toward becoming America’s premier public university, bar none.
